Cross Country team earns Conference championship

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On October 13th, the KCC Cross Country Team took to the Savioral Pastoral Center in their conference championship, hosted by Maranatha. Running early in the morning, the colder temperature was a harsh wake-up call for the runners.

“Some people were not dressed well for running in the cold,” junior Molly Miller said. “It’s harder to breathe the colder air because it makes your lungs dry, and it’s just harder to warm up before the race.”

The girls’ race was first up in the morning. The girls ran through the cold air and came up at the end of the finish line with rosy faces and lungs filled with the crisp air. Sophomore Alysia Wagner finished in first place, an exciting moment for her and her team.

“It felt really good,” Wagner said. “I already knew my time was supposed to be ahead of everyone, so I wasn’t that surprised, but [winning] was really exciting!”
Closely behind Alysia followed sophomore Malia Veer in 8th place, and senior Libby Paul in 10th place.

“It was so fun to see everyone work so well as a team,” Paul said. “It was a really good race because everyone in our team worked so hard while they ran.”

Following the girls race, the boys lined up to begin their portion of the meet. At the sound of the starting pistol, the boys took off and began to run, trying to edge out their opponents. Senior Drew Birnbaum took first place, another exciting achievement for the team.

“I was confident,” Birnbaum said. “I was near the lead the whole time so I just coasted, and it was just a fun run, it was fast and a flat course and great weather.”

“The boys ran really well during the race,” Wyatt Browning said. “It was a beautiful day to run and we couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.”

After all the runners had recovered and began to talk amongst themselves, the various teams began to gather to learn who had won the conference championship. In the end, KCC was declared the conference champions, a massive feat for the team and gave them a big boost of confidence going into the postseason.

“It definitely gives us confidence,” Birnbaum said. “[We] know our limits and now we can push ourselves even farther.”